Anyway, States of Confusion rider # 40 inquired about whether a particular building would meet the qualifications for an SOC location. Perusal of the area in Google Maps turned up something that greatly amused the SOC rallymaster.

If you knew Eddie, you knew that he had a mischievous sense of humor and an anti-authoritarian streak.

These tendencies came out in the license plates on some of his motorcycles. Back in the day, Eddie was working at a Harley-Davidson dealer in the Twin Cities, and would ride his BMW to the store. One day Eddie’s BMW was parked out front and the irate and somewhat geographically-challenged owner screamed at him, “Park that Fucking Jap Bike out back!”. Thereafter, Eddie usually had a Bavarian-built BMW with the license plate “FJB”.

At some TeamStrange event, Eddie was downright giggling. He was giggling because he’d just got a new license plate for another of his bikes, and this one said “DONEY“. For those not into the blues as depp as Eddie was, a doney is a term for a woman, often disreputable, and most famously in the Robert Johnson song “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” and as electrified by Elmore James in “Dust My Broom“:

I don’t want no woman want every downtown man she meetsShe’s a no-good doney, they shouldn’t allow her on the street

Eddie was positively delighted to have put one over on the Minnesota DMV.

So how does this relate to States of Confusion? At the request of the rallymaster, SOC Rider # 40 sent back a photo of a road sign close to the SOC location. Eddie would think this was pretty funny. Thank you SOC Rider # 40.

The top ten finishers in Butt Lite X will be eligible for no-draw spots in the 2021 Iron Butt Rally. That means you get to bypass the IBR drawing process. Whether you must meet any additional qualifications that the IBR may impose is up to the IBR. If you finish in the top ten in Butt Lite X and you already have a spot in the 2021 IBR, bully for you. Un-used no-draw spots do not pass down to Butt Lite finishers below #10.

However, the first place finisher in Butt Lite X gets his or her IBR entry fee paid by TeamStrange, whether he or she already had a spot in the IBR or gets in via the Butt Lite top ten no-draw entry. So, another good reason to strive for first.

Butt Lite X will start and end in some town or city somewhere in the lower 48 of the USA. The rally will begin on Sunday, July 5, 2020, and end on Saturday, July 11, 2020. The entry fee will be $975 solo or $1175 two-up.

Please read all the information below before proceeding. We know you’re anxious, but reading comprehension is always important:

If you are interested in applying for a spot in BLX, read this page, then click on the link a the bottom of this post to go to the registration site.

If you have never ridden with us in the past, don’t despair. This doesn’t mean you won’t get in.

After all the data for the application is gathered, you will be prompted to make a deposit of $100 via PayPal.

If you are selected, the $100 will go toward your entry fee.

If you are not selected, the $100 will be refunded to you.

PayPal will be the only form of payment we will take during the application process.

Applications will be accepted beginning April 1, 2019, through July 30, 2019.

The order in which we receive applications will not impact your chances of getting in. Unlike previous Butt Lites, being first doesn’t guarantee you a spot.

You will be notified via email (the email you give us during the application process) during the first week of September 2019 whether you were or were not accepted. If you don’t get in, we won’t leave you hanging. This date may fluctuate depending on where we are with reviewing applications.

At that time, you will be given information on how to pay the balance of your entry fee (checks or PayPal will be accepted). We will accept two payments over a period of time that will be communicated then.

You will be informed of the rally start and finish locations, schedule and reservation information for hotels.

There will be no refunds of entry fees after you have been accepted into the rally.

There will not be a waiting list. If you are on the fence about applying for Butt Lite or want to wait to see who else gets in, you will be out of luck. You must apply during the application window in order to be considered.

If you want information on what to expect during the rally – rules, route sheets, reports from riders – you can find more information on past rallies (and on Butt Lite X as we post it) here.

Before we start, we want to take the opportunity to thank all the riders who have participated in Butt Lite over the years. Without you, the rally could not happen, and because of you, we make the rally happen. Some of you even come back for more, which either shows we’re not cruel enough or there’s something wrong with you, or both.

Also, we want to take the opportunity to thank all our volunteers over the years. Truly, the rally would not happen without your participation. Your continued willingness to travel half way across the country to get up at 4 am and deal with cranky, smelly rally riders and cranky, smelly rallymasters constantly amazes us.

At the end of each Butt Lite rally, people start asking us when the next Butt Lite will happen. We have always responded that this is like asking a woman who just gave birth when she wants to have the next baby. This time, riders were asking us before we’d announced the results, which is like asking that woman even before the umbilical cord has been cut.

Nevertheless, we did start talking among ourselves about the possibility of another Butt Lite fairly soon after the end of BLIX – sooner than we had started talking about it after any of the other rallies. We fairly quickly realized we all had the same feelings about the future of Butt Lite and we fairly quickly came to some decisions.

We are planning that there will be a Butt Lite X in 2020.

We are expecting that it will be the last Butt Lite rally.

When we decided to do Butt Lite 6IX in May 2011, we were terrified that we would not live up to the standards and goal of Total World Domination established by our founders, Eddie James and Adam Wolkoff, and that we would somehow ruin the name of Butt Lite. We still strive to meet that standard of performance but we have less fear of failure. Over the past 7 years, we’ve had more fun working together to put on Butt Lite than you can imagine. One of our serious considerations regarding the future of Butt Lite, and a huge downside for us, is that breaking up this team will feel like breaking up a family.

But, it is 2 solid years of work and stress that goes into putting on a multi-day rally like Butt Lite. The rally pretty much fills all available non-day-job hours. We want to be free to tell friends where we went on our last motorcycle ride without worrying about accidentally revealing a bonus location. We want to be free to post photos on social media without giving away a secret. We want to be free to go on a vacation that isn’t guided by the parameters of the next rally. As much as we enjoy working together, and as much as we will miss that, our lives have been controlled by the rally for 7 years now, and we (and our significant others) all feel it’s time for that to end.

But why end Butt Lite instead of passing it along to someone else to continue? We just feel that closing up shop is the right way to go out. There were five Butt Lites under Eddie and Adam and there will be five Butt Lites under the Gen 2 rallymasters, and that’s a nice symmetry. We hope and expect that there are others who will develop another multi-day rally that will be as successful as Butt Lite, and we’ll be happy to give any advice we can. But the past can be a burden, and we think it’s best for the sport and for the LD community if that future rally, whatever it is, can be free to develop its own identity and become its own legend.

There will be more details on Butt Lite X in time. But there is one other thing we need to tell you right now, and it will unavoidably make some riders unhappy. Because Butt Lite X will be the last Butt Lite, we expect there will be a lot of riders who will want to be part of it. And that’s great. But it’s incredibly important to us that those loyal Butt Lite riders who’ve supported the rally in the past, and for some reason still want to come back for more, get the chance to do so. So, as much as we enjoy watching the free-for-all, first-come-first-serve registration scramble, we’re not going to do that for Butt Lite X. We want to ensure that Butt Lite veterans don’t get shut out so there will be some sort of drawing process TBD that will give preference to returning riders. The good news is, you won’t all have to be sitting at your computers at midnight frantically hitting the Enter key.

There will be more information posted at the TeamStrange website and discussion board and the Butt Lite blog in due time. And again, we want to thank our past and future riders and volunteers who gave us the opportunity for so much fun and angst over the past 7 years. One last time, light fuse and get away.

Several of our Butt Lite IX riders are blogging about the experience. One is a top 10 finisher, another gives us a first-time, multi-day perspective and finally, an Australian pillion riding in her first rally. They all do a great job of detailing exactly what this is all about. Enjoy!

It is nearly a week since the end of Butt Lite IX. I’ve spent much of this week in a fog. I may be caught up on my sleep. I plan to keep a low profile this weekend just in case a nap sneaks up on me.

Each Butt Lite is unique. Each has its own highs and lows. This one shall be known as the Goat Trail rally. Not by design – at least not the rally master’s design. But thanks to Garmin we all had to deal with much more stress than usual as rider after rider found themselves on questionable “roads”. I lost count of the number of calls we got from distressed riders with napping motorcycles that refused to be lifted.

Many learned the valuable lesson – just because the GPS says to go down that road/path/trail, it doesn’t mean you have to do it. Be the boss of the GPS, not the other way around. As Rider #55 found out –

“Reading Comprehension” has been a mantra of TeamStrange since the very beginning. We’re just so old-fashioned that way. We think many of our Butt Lite IX riders would have been thrilled if we simply gave them way-points to visit with no context whatsoever. That might make a great rally. Go to this way-point and take a photo of whatever is there. Only how will you know what you should be photographing with no description? Take a photo and bring it to scoring and then we’ll tell you if it’s right or not.

No, that isn’t how we do things at Butt Lite. We insist that you think, read, comprehend and solve problems as they arise.

We have our coffee mugs. They are a staple of Butt Lite swag. They have become collector items. Sometimes we incorporate them in bonuses. Sometimes we don’t. On Butt Lite VIII there was no coffee mug bonus and when asked by riders if they needed to bring their mug with them we answered “No”.

At the beginning of BLIX we were asked if the coffee mugs would be needed – multiple times, in rider meetings, in the hall, in the parking lot. Our answer was, “Bring everything you think you will need.” That isn’t no. It wasn’t a trick either. We can’t disclose bonus information before the rally books are handed out. So that was the best answer we could give.

So imagine our surprise as rider after rider left their mug in the storage room before leaving Lexington on leg one. There was no mug bonus on leg one. But there was on leg two.

5) Collettsville, NC MUG Daylight 357points

Two homes and an entire fence are covered in about 25,000 coffee mugs. As far as we know there aren’t any TeamStrange mugs on the property but who could tell for sure?

Take a photo of your Butt Lite IX coffee mug at The Mug House. Your fully intact mug and flag must be visible in the photo.

Follow Old Johns River Road until pavement ends. From there continue 1 mile on the gravel road to The Mug House.

Coordinates 35.95863, -081.71101

Two riders went to the Mug House without their mugs. They didn’t read the bonus ahead of time and didn’t realize they would need the mugs, which were safely stashed away at the hotel in Lexington. I guess the bonus name wasn’t a big enough hint. They were sad.

Something the three of us found very interesting – out of 303 total bonus locations all but seven of them were visited at least once. That made us very happy. It’s hard to cull the list and throw out locations to keep things manageable. And it’s hard to find something very special and then have no one go there. One of the seven lonely bonuses was one of my personal favorites:

84) Broxton, GA BAR Daylight 301points

Dylan Ross is a self-taught artist from Douglas, GA. His work is becoming highly collectible and valuable. This mural, on the side of a barn, may be his best piece yet.

Take a photo of Barney.

US 441, across from Broxton Church of God. There is a driveway to a home next to the mural where you can pull off. Take care, as it isn’t paved. Also be courteous to the home owners.

Coordinates 31.63756, -082.89790

In the end, everyone found their way home safely. No matter what goes wrong during the rally, that is truly the only thing that matters. With time, it all becomes a series of great stories, told over and over whenever long distance riders meet.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I went to the Mug House on Butt Lite IX but didn’t have my mug?”

“I’ll never forget that goat trail Garmin sent me on when the rally book said you could get to the bonus on paved roads.”

“Have you ever heard of Belle Gunness?”

Another Butt Lite is done. We hope you enjoyed the ride. The food. The bourbon. And the stories.

The photos of the finishers are now up in the Butt Lite IX gallery here. All the photos in the gallery are available for download for personal use. You can either right click to save or use the download button in the lower right corner when the image you’re interested in is selected. It’s always great to credit your photographer http://www.rickcorwinephoto.com and a link back to the blog is a nice idea too.